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Friday, 11 October 2013

Airtel unveils customized plans to increase its post-paid customer.

Bharti Airtel, the country's largest mobile phone company, aims to increase its post-paid customer base by offering them tailor-made voice and data plans that can be customized according to individual usage patterns.

Terming 'my plan' initiative as an industry first, Bharti Airtel's chief marketing officer for consumer business, Govind Rajan, said the niche service will set a trend while bringing customers from rival brands to Airtel. "The concept of 'my plan' will appeal to all customers. This plan will help grow (our) post paid customer base," he said.

The company's efforts will indirectly result in higher revenue as the average revenue from a post-paid customer is three to four times higher than a pre-paid customer.

Industry wide, pre-paid customers make up 95%-96% of around 900 million customer base of all mobile phone companies in India. However, the mere 5% of post paid customers contribute up to 25% of the total revenues of the sector.

On an average, these customers stay with an operator for three to four years when compared to six to eight months for the pre-paid category. Hence, most mobile phone companies are keen to increase this base of reliable, high value customers.

Rajan said Bharti Airtel had tested 'my plan' with customers and found that they were excited to pick and choose plans that suit their need rather than the company offering them pre-set plans based on general usage patterns, which they may not fully utilise. It also reduced the complexity of choosing a plan to a large extent.

"Unlimited flexibility and the ability to change the plan as and when they want ensures that benefits like free voice minutes, messages and 2G or 3G data do not go waste. Choosing a plan has become simple as we have gone down a one plan framework from nearly 5,500 plans that we offer on the whole," he said.

Customers can choose from five rental plans, starting from 199. They can pick up one or more 'my packs' that may give, for instance, local minutes or national messages free of charge. Customers can then add on 'boosters' for voice or data available from 75 upwards.